And again, you could also make your virtual makeshift bilingual reader by just grabbing a translation and an edition of the original Latin and reading them together, even if they're two books. The Loebs have a nice book design for this though.
Vijay wrote: ↑Sun May 02, 2021 9:02 pmI think I've been finding it hard even to tell how exactly I go about studying languages. It's almost as if I just dove into a swimming pool and somehow managed to stay afloat until I got to the other side and then people were like "wow! You're such a great swimmer! How did you do that?!" Uhhh idk I just did whatever I could so I wouldn't die ig?
Do you think there's much to say about language learning besides piling up the hours of learning?
I'm aware of opinions on some learning methods being better than others, but I am increasingly of the opinion that time exposing yourself to the language you want to understand is what mostly matters, and the difference between learning methods is mostly found in how
engaging they are to students to get them to spend time necessary to get used to a language (and people differ a lot in what learning methods they enjoy).
Like, the main problem with the "grammar-translation" method commonly used for Latin seems to be that the method exposes students to the language too little, namely the reading passages and translation exercises are too few. And this is made worse as Latin classes are typically taught in the oral vernacular instead of spoken Latin, further reducing the amount of Latin students get to be exposed to. In a typical intermediate French class, there's a lot of reinforcement going on merely by encouraging French speech, especially as the students listen to the teacher. Not the typical case in Latin. Much of the greatness of the Ørberg LLPSI books seems to be that they actually get students to face stretches of fairly understandable Latin.
And I really notice this "time exposing yourself to language" thing when people have very unbalanced oral or written skills, being much better at the oral language than the written one, or viceversa. I recall meeting a Canadian woman who had studied some Spanish at university mostly to be able to do ayahuasca in some religious context, who obviously had little interest in written Spanish—she ended up living with a couple shamans in the interior of Ecuador for a few years. When I met her at a Spanish group here she admitted her interest and active skill in written Spanish was low, but I can tell you her spoken Spanish was excellent...
And for an example of someone a lot more skilled on the written side of a language, there's me and Mandarin... all because I don't like talking to people and don't enjoy oral media much (even in English/Spanish). It's weird to say but I can read Mandarin much better than I understand it orally. It's totally possible to end up this way depending on how you spend your time. Heck, even in English, my written comprehension/production is better than my oral comprehension/production. I still can't really understand Hollywood movies, once the actors start whispering or speaking in a very glottalized "intimate" way or the like, which they tend to do an awful lot for dramatic effect.
I tried watching Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014 and Deadpool in 2016 in theatres, and what an awful experience that was. Even today, in 2021, if I transcribe what I
actually hear on a first try:
- What happen? [
unhearable -ed]
- This guy
jsst backed
adadava deal with me.
- There's one thing I hate it's a man
vadhat integrity. [
unhearable initial "if"]
- Peter
Qwull, pippullgall me Starlord.
- [
with heavy glottalization:] You have the
berrin of a man of honour.
- Well, I'd... I
would say that. [
unhearable -n't in wouldn't]
People say it about me, all the time, but, [
with heavy glottalization:] it's not
zudhadoovuhvar say
ubbutt myself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noP9HY8nXvY
You don't need to give me the correct version. I can perfectly hear the dialogue after repeating the clip a few times ("it's not something I'd ever say about myself..."), but my point is I don't get it on the first try, so I can't watch movies in theatres. And I know I could fix it if I actually watched movies more (I hardly watch any, ever, in any language) and listened to people speaking more, but I just don't care. And I'd like to mention I don't have this problem in my everyday oral English life. It's really actors that try to sound a bit too cool or intimate in their acting, as in the clip with "cool speech" above.
Conversely, I also notice I have a much, much easier time understanding L2 English by Chinese speakers than the average non-Chinese Vancouverite, again due to actually talking to them more than the average non-Chinese Vancouverate typically does, besides actually trying to learn Mandarin.
(EDIT: Except on UniLang, not here)